


Dick Grayson – A Death In The Family

by AceofEnder



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceofEnder/pseuds/AceofEnder
Summary: “I’m sorry for your loss.” The one phrase none of them wanted to hear anymore, that they were sick of, that they wanted to get rid of the English language for.  It was a numb and worn out phrase by the first one.  He had been gone for three weeks and nothing would change that.  They were all there the day the press tried to force their way into the matter.  None of them wanted to try to stop the angry response to come, they were too tired to deal with the public by now.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Tim Drake
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Dick Grayson – A Death In The Family

**Author's Note:**

> THE VERSIONS OF THEM IN THIS ARE THE ONE’S IN THE ONE WITH THE KINDNESS SERIES PLEASE LISTEN TO: https://youtu.be/ZuMr14sdUnU WHILE READING FOR A FEEL AND A HALF  
> This is the longest fic I've ever written and made two people cry oop-

“I’m sorry for your loss.” The one phrase none of them wanted to hear anymore, that they were sick of, that they wanted to get rid of the English language for. It was a numb and worn out phrase by the first one. He had been gone for three weeks and nothing would change that. They were all there the day the press tried to force their way into the matter. None of them wanted to try to stop the angry response to come, they were too tired to deal with the public by now.

“Mr. Drake-Wayne!” A reporter had yelled towards Tim, running over to him with a mic. “What?” Tim had responded tiredly, bags under his eyes like never before, not due to lack of coffee, but from stress and exhaustion. The reporter gave him a sympathetic smile, which was only greeted with a sigh, before holding the microphone forward and speaking. “We’ve heard about your brother, I’m sorry for your lo-“ Tim cut him off with an unamused look complete with a dead stare, he was sick of the words already. “Why the fuck are you sorry?” He snapped at the man, who stumbled a bit and looked taken aback. “You didn’t know him. None of you did!” He spoke bitterly while gesturing to the crowd of paparazzi around the Wayne Enterprises building. 

“We,” Tim spoke, referring to his family. “Do not need your fake apologies and attempts to wedge yourselves into our family matters.” He took the microphone from the first reporter’s hand and stepped up on the building entrance stairs, before staring into the crowd and cameras. “Richard, no… Dick, Grayson, was an amazing man. He was the kind of man to lay down his life for someone else’s sake, even if he didn’t know them. He was the kind of man who didn’t care over obnoxious matters such as racial appearance or sexuality and gender, he knew that if you were a good person, you were worth knowing. And he believed that if you were bad, you deserved your shot at redemption.” He spoke, feeling his chest tighten with every word, before shoving the mic back to the reporter and walking into the secured building as fast as his legs would pick up off the ground.

Wayne Manor was full of grievance, but everything just felt…empty. They were all in the house for the first time in years, but what was the cost of collecting the family together? They felt as though they had lost the piece of their family that held it all together. Jason’s mind screamed out to himself to pick a fight with Bruce, blame him for not protecting his brother, but it wasn’t what Dick would want and he damn well knew it. Cass was either seen outside with the small collection of graves lining the side of Wayne Manor, or was seen with Tim, she refused to leave his side after hearing the news. Barbara was breaking down in her room wasn’t ready to leave. Tim hadn’t been seen in a week, but they knew he was in the Manor. Stephanie didn’t seem to know what to do with herself at the time, so she went into Dick’s room to make an area in his memory. Damian would never admit to breaking down from it, but he had walked in to see her lighting the candles and broke down in sobs, Stephanie didn’t mention it to a single soul and just held him like Dick would have done. He was gone, but Damian felt a part of him in that hug.

For the first time in weeks, someone saw Tim, and that someone was Jason. At two in the morning he heard a soft pounding on his door, he looked at the unopened bottle in his hand before gritting his teeth and setting it on the nightstand before going to open the door. “Who the fuck is knocking and what the fuck do you wa-“ Jason spat out, bringing his words to a stop when he laid eyes on Tim. Tim was holding out a mug to Jason without a word, until Jason took the cup. “What’s in it?” Jason whispered, thinking of the bottle on the bedside table, no longer feeling the bitter feeling in his throat as he had before. Tim gave him an uneven smile with a calm look in his eye. “It’s hot chocolate, the way Dick made for us when we would fight over games.” He spoke softly, trying to calm Jason’s panic reflex. It worked and Jason opened the door fully, letting his younger brother walk in to see the mess of his room.

Jason’s room was full of trash and torn up photos, Tim tried to walk to the bed avoiding it but stepped on a torn-up photo. He looked closer subtly, only to see a photo of Jason when he was younger, with a playful scowl on his face as Dick put bunny ears behind him. Tim felt his breath stop momentarily as he realized it was a photo taken before the day Jason died. He was snapped from his thoughts of the picture when Jason cleared his throat. “What are you doing here Timmy?” He spoke quietly, hearing his own voice die out on his brother’s nickname. The voices in his head were screaming at him not to hurt this one too, he pushed them away the best he could. Tim simply gave a worried smile in return before sitting on the bed beside him. “I’m here.” He let the simple words leave his throat slowly. “Yeah, I wanted to know why.” Jason tried to give a playful scoff before seeing Tim’s serious face.

“I’m here.” He spoke again, receiving a look from Jason as he furrowed his eyebrows at Tim. “Again, I know. But why are you here Tim?” He laughed out slightly, his eyes trailing to the side. Tim smiled and gestured to the mug in Jason’s hand, letting a moment of silence slip by before talking. “Jason.” He whispered out “I’m here.” Jason’s mind cleared and he felt his body go numb, letting minutes pass full of heavy silence. He looked up at Tim with tears in his eyes before setting the now empty mug down. “Thank you, Tim.” He let the words leave his lips, each whisper wavering in his attempt not to cry. Tim sat with him for another hour, letting him pour as many tears out on his shoulder as needed. 

At the end of the night he got up to leave, advising Jason to get some much-needed sleep, but Jason stopped him at the door. “Hey Tim?” Jason called out quietly. “Ah, yeah Jay?” He smiled back, wondering what he needed. “You’re…more like Dick than you think.” He felt the words fill the air, letting a tear roll down his face but a light smile found its way onto his lips. Tim stopped in his tracks feeling his heart pound heavily but thought about the words and smiled. “…thank you, Jay, get some sleep.” He spoke caringly, closing the door behind him and heading to his room for the night.

In the morning, Alfred had dragged Damian and Stephanie out to help him with shopping but more so because he knew they needed the air, and Jason needed the extra rest. Cass was napping after a week of not sleeping, laying in Tim’s room. That gave him the time to slip towards Barbara’s room carefully. He knew what he would find so he threw somethings in a bag and knocked on her bedroom door.

Barbara hadn’t explained her disappearance to anyone outside, just packed a bag and hauled what little strength she felt left to the house. If you opened the door to her room at Gordon’s house, you’d see neatly lined decorations on the wall and a desk organized, you’d simply see her room. But if you opened the door to her room at the Manor? You would see dozens of papers scattering around the room, a desk covered in shattered glass and a single photo of her and Dick the day of her 18th birthday. 

You would see Barbara Gordon, the one believed to be the calm and collected, slamming her fist into the wall until she bled. Until she felt as though her broken knuckles would heal her failed attempts to save her best friend. Her tears stained everything in her room, her blood staining even more. You would hear her broken sobs as she wounded her body more and more until she could no longer feel the pain that he felt. 

And that’s exactly what Tim saw, she yelled at him to come in and he opened the door to see her arm dripping red and her hair a mess. “…what do you want Tim?” She settled on the words, trying to find the right sentence to fill the air. “I wanted to see how you’re doing Babs.” He told her, taking his bag off of his shoulder and setting it her bed. She continued to throw her hand against the wall, Tim almost thought she had broken a finger. “That’s nice of you Tim, but right now there isn’t a reason to be worried.” She spoke in a monotone voice but gave him an empathetic smile, knowing what he was doing. “Babs, think you can come over here?” He questioned her, motioning with his finger to have her sit beside him.

She sighed and walked over, knowing that her stubborn act against him would just be met with a more stubborn attitude. “I’m okay Tim, don’t worry about me.” She laughed at him, while reaching up to push her tangled hair from her face. When she reached up, she felt the blood from her knuckles drain down along her cheek, Tim watched her hand shake as she tried not to break down. “Barbara, it’s okay to not be okay right now. You lost your best friend.” He spoke quietly, she felt her body ache and she stumbled onto the bed on accident. He whispered to her as he helped her sit up. “But it wasn’t your fault that he died Babs.”

She stopped moving and saw flashes of memories run through her head before she saw one of her and Dick sitting on the roof of the WE building in uniform. “It wasn’t your fault that he died Babs” He had told her while pulling her into a hug, she remembered that was the first time she couldn’t save someone as batgirl. She felt her wall of self-hatred and angry crash down when she put a hand over her own mouth to cry. “This…is the first time I’ve lost someone as Oracle.” She muttered out painfully. Tim pulled her into a careful hug and let her sit in her emotions for a while. Tim opened the bag and grabbed a roll of bandages and a disinfectant for her wounds, carefully cleaning up her arms and wrapping them up. He gave her a wipe to clean the blood from her face. “Hey, I’ve got your back.” He told her with a smile, she nodded knowing he meant it before asking him to give her a bit of space and time.

Tim found himself standing in the middle of Gotham Park, waiting for someone. He knew that Damian would avoid his family at all costs and only came here to walk Titus, he knew that if Damian saw him, he would leave. He waited at the park since nine in the morning, knowing his younger brother would walk Titus from seven to nine depending on the day. He waited until he looked up and saw Damian walking Titus, a pair of Dick’s old headphones were in his ears. He remembered seeing Dick throw them out with a sad look, but he wasn’t surprised upon seeing Damian had them.

“Ti-“ Damian stifled his broken question and cleared his throat to confidently ask “Drake, what are you doing here?” Tim felt a frown appear on his face but shook it off and smiled at Damian. “Alfred told me that you were going to be here, so I brought you a drink” Tim told him, holding out the kind of travel cup he got at his favorite coffee place, he bought some for his own drinks at home. Damian scoffed, keeping up his appearance, told Tim “I detest your caffeinated dirt water Drake.” Tim sighed softly to himself before passing the cup to Damian and speaking. “It’s chrysanthemum tea Dami.” Damian went silent while eyeing the cup before taking it and bringing it to his lips. He stopped to speak before taking a sip. “Honey not sugar, warm not iced, and-“ Damian started to ask before Tim finished his sentence. “And two chrysanthemum flowers left in, the way Talia… and Dick always made it.” 

Damian’s act began to fall through, he went silent and took a sip from the cup, savoring the sweet undertones of honey. He let out a soft breath and gave his brother a small smile. “Thank you…Tim.” Damian told him softly before taking another sip. “Care to sit down while we talk? I have a feeling you won’t be leaving me be yet.” Damian chuckled and asked Tim while making a small hand gesture to the benches lining the park area. Tim gave a quick nod and flashed a smile at a woman and her dog. 

Damian sat down next to Tim on a bench made of antique cherry and walnut wood. “So, why’d you actually come here Tim?” Damian asked him softly with a light sigh, holding Titus’s leash carefully. Tim chuckled to himself lightly before speaking. “Never a moment of peace with you huh Dami?” He asked calmly. Damian’s jaw clenched slightly at the nickname, a reminder of the man who gave it to him being gone went through his mind. He looked over at Tim’s slight smile and calmed down more, taking in a slight breath and relaxing his hand.

“I suppose not.” Damian said softly, sipping on the beverage slowly as Tim began to talk. “Are you holding up okay Damian?” Damian’s eyes trailed off momentarily before speaking “Timothy there’s no reason to lie to you as you will bother me for hours if I don’t accept help. I am…not doing well with Gray- Dick’s loss.” He corrected the name, testing his older brother’s name on his tongue before sighing and accepting it begrudgingly. Tim smiled and spoke softly “He’d be giddy right now to hear you using his name.” Damian cracked a slight smile before speaking “I suppose, it seemed appropriate to honor his choice of name.” Tim nodded slightly, trying to understand what Damian must be feeling, he was rather close to Dick before he died.

“Dami? I’m on your side. We all are.” Tim whispered to his younger brother carefully. Damian gave him a look of slight disbelief, not knowing if it were true or not. “May I ask you something about him, Tim?” Damian asked him, keeping his voice low but it wavered slightly when he spoke. “Of course you can, I’ll do my best to answer.” He added in response, trying to help Damian relax. He took in a small breath of the warm comforting air in the park before asking his older brother the question. “Do you…think he would be proud of me?”

Tim gave him a look of slight shock before smiling and pulling the boy into a hug. “He would be beyond proud of you Dami. It wasn’t his choice when he had to go, because if it was, he wouldn’t have left until he thought you wouldn’t need to miss him. If he had the choice, he would be here to tell you to cheer up and smother you in older brother care. He would’ve been incredibly proud of you and he is.” Tim spoke with a gentle tone, trying to make sure he didn’t overstep on Damian’s boundaries. He felt Damian’s expression shift as he leaned on his older brother’s shoulder. “It’s not fair that he didn’t get the choice.” He spoke in a broken whisper, understanding the feeling of loss and that everyone’s time comes eventually but not seeing the justice in this.

“I know Dami. Sometimes good people need to leave to balance it out though. We can honor memory; he didn’t get to bid his farewell therefore he isn’t gone. He’s just not available to us for the moment.” Tim let out the caring words while making sure Titus would not run away for Damian. Eventually he had to move on so Tim let him go, but before Tim could leave, he told him one thing. “Thank you…Drake.” He flashed a smile towards Tim, who gave one right back.

That night around 9 PM, Tim found himself taking a deep breath while standing outside the door of someone’s apartment. He looked around the dim hallway before knocking on the door reading the apartment number 42, he chuckled slightly at it before the door opened. Behind the half open door stood a blonde wearing pajama pants and a tank top. “Oh, hey Tim. Wanna come in?” Stephanie asked him, a hint of tired tone in her voice as she ushered him in the door. He walked through the door, chuckling slightly at the Wonder Woman pajama pants she had on. “Nice pants Steph.” He laughed to himself a bit when she cracked a smile and held her middle finger towards him.

“Do you want some coffee?” She asked, leading him through her living room into the kitchen. He shrugged slightly but nodded his head, attempting to ease into the conversation with her. “Sure, I’ll take a cup, thanks Stephie.” He told her, receiving an eyeroll in response. “Only Jaybird calls me that, Tim Tam.” She smirked after firing back with the nickname that made him groan. He shook his head playfully, taking the finished cup from her when it was ready. He eyed the third cup behind her before he took a sip, immediately going to spit it out in her sink. “What the hell? Is that salt?!” He screeched slightly, earning a slightly cackle from behind him. She burst out in laughter and wiped at her eyes dramatically “Yes, yes it was Timothy.” She bowed but handed him the third mug that was on the counter, assuring him that this one wasn’t poisoned too.

He sipped at the hot delicate blend of coffee, raising an eyebrow at the aroma and taste. “I take it you took my recommendations for coffee bean brands?” He asked her with a slightly cocky tone arising in his words. She scoffed “No…maybe.” He chuckled somewhat before pulling out a chair to sit on, she followed suit and sat across from him. She took a small sip from her mug after blowing on it before asking “So, what did I do this time to make the mighty Sir Timothy appear outside my apartment at 9 at night?” She raised a sarcastic eyebrow while talking. 

“I was just patrolling around the area so-“ He trailed off upon seeing the face she made. “Tim, I hang out with you at the Manor all the time, we work together, we’re friends, we’re pretty much siblings. I know when you’re lying, well, I know when you’re lying when you aren’t trying very hard.” She got the words out with a small snicker. He sighed playfully, taking small sips of the beverage for a moment, before setting it down and throwing his hands in the air innocently. “Alright, alright, you got me.” His facial features softened as he made an apologetic expression at her, knowing she wasn’t the most openly touchy-feely kind of person.

She sighed to herself but accepted the talk. Dick and Tim always told her that talking it out was the healthy way to handle emotions so may as well try it, right? “Are you going to do that thing you always do, where you corner me into wanting to talk about my feelings before I realize you’re here?” She inquires at him, with a frisky smile. “I…uh. I don’t do that- but yes.” He grinned at her, knowing she’d cave just to get back to sleep. He just needed to make sure she was okay.

She groaned a bit at having to open up but started to mumble to him, wrapping her fingers around the steaming mug. “I just, we were really close. Dick and I. No one thought we’d be that close, but he was always there for me. So were you but it was different, he talked to me about being ‘emotionally stunted’ as Alfred puts it, because of my dad. He was there when I was upset and didn’t know how to explain it, he was there when everyone thought I was too hyper and annoying to play a game with.” She trailed off into a whisper and said “He was there for the birthday that my parents weren’t… he accepted me as a member of the family so easily, he was my family. It’s hard to think that I’ll never get a call about an animal in the middle of the night from him again.” She laughed out painfully, almost bitterly while thinking about it.

Tim reached across the table to lay a hand on her arm softly. “He thought of you as more than his blood, he thought of you as a sister as we all do, he loved you. He always told me when we were growing up in the Manor that he was my older brother no matter the circumstances. He told me, that if you had a good heart you deserved to be treated as such.” She smiled at his words, clenching her hand slightly and muttering “Yeah he told me the same, I’m glad we can keep him in our hearts like this, you know?” He nodded and flashed her a smile “And hey, I can wake you up in the middle of the night by calling you if you’d like?” She moaned out with annoyance and flipped him off. “Absolutely not, get out of my house nerd.” He opened his mouth to tell her that it wasn’t a house before she threw a balled-up napkin at his face and brought his now empty mug to the sink. He held up both hands and began to leave before hearing her quietly admit “Thanks, I needed this.” He smiled and responded, “Anytime Steph.”

He felt the rush of caffeine from the coffee at Stephanie’s apartment, as he walked into his bedroom. He faceplanted onto his bed only to hear a hum, he looked up to see Cass waving. He smiled and waved back a bit. “Where have you been Timmy?” She signed with a smile. He groaned and mumbled into his pillow. She poked him with her foot until he flipped over and talked properly. “I’ve been out and about I guess” He chuckled, leaning over to give her a tight hug. “You texted me that you wanted to talk right? What about” She signed to him quickly. He gave her a warm kind smile “I just wanted to make sure you’re alright Dragonfly.”

She gave him a funny look and signed at him “I’m alright Tim?” He gave her a know it all look and hugged her for a second before whispering “Dragonfly. I know you; I know that it hits you harder to lose someone with what you’ve been through. Please don’t blame yourself. You know that he loved you right?” Cass looked down at her hands, remembering the deaths she had seen before was not like this one. This one was not her fault and was simply life taking course. She took a deep breath and whispered out to Tim “I don’t know Timmy.”

He gave her a faint smile and wrapped his hand around her’s, trying to calm down his sister. “Phen” Tim started, easing her a bit by using the Romani word for sister, which Dick always called her. “He loved you and it would hurt him to see you blame yourself, he would tell you that it is okay to cry but to smile for him. He was a good man and a better brother.” She began to cry and wrapped her arms around Tim, squeezing just enough to not hurt him. “T-im?” Cass stuttered over her words a bit, but he smiled and nodded. “Than you. Are yo-uu okay too?”

He gave a weak smile but let his expression fall a bit. “I miss him Dragonfly, but I’m okay. Do you know what he told me when Bruce adopted me?” She shook her head slightly and tilted her head to the side in question. He whispered to her softly “I’d rather be a good memory that someone forgets, than a bad one that leaves them broken, is what he always told me. And I refuse to cry over someone who spent his entire life, attempting to make sure no one around him would have to shed a tear again. I love him and I miss him like hell, but I know he would want us to be happy. I will never stop keeping his memory alive, no matter what it takes.” She smiled at him and kept him in a hug for the next hour until they passed out, a small piece of paper moving around Tim’s pocket while he slept.

“To my family, both by blood, by legalities, or by choice. I thank you for every piece of love and care you’ve shown me, I thank you for letting me into your lives. I know it is never easy to lose someone, I am not gone though. I merely wait for the day you may look up and see the path of my dance in the stars. Thank you for making me able to say, I know what love is. You do not deserve the pain of loss, but it my time to go. I find strength in you more than myself, thank you. – Dick Grayson”


End file.
